Book jacket for 'Long Division,' by Kiese Laymon.

The book's two interwoven stories span from the freedom summer of the early 1960s through the mid-1980s to the present day. The main character is 14-year-old Citoyen "City" Coldson, who becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity when he has an onstage meltdown during a nationally televised quiz contest.

Laymon was born and raised in Jackson, Miss. He graduated from Oberlin College and earned his master's degree from Indiana University. He is an associated professor of English and Africana Studies at Vassar College in the Town of Poughkeepsie. His collection of essays, "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America," is scheduled to be published in August.